


Bring Him Back

by NephilimEQ



Category: Another Life (TV 2019), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Angst, Based on a Tumblr Post, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Humor, Ian is secretly married, Love Across the Universe, M/M, Married idiots, Some Fluff, Sterek in Another Form, Thomas Graves is played by Dylan O'Brien, never had a relationship with Cas, obviously, sterek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 19:50:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21142256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NephilimEQ/pseuds/NephilimEQ
Summary: Ian Yerxa has been killed by acting Commander, Niko Breckinridge. The ship is dying. She pulls the only person that can fix the ship out of cryo, and he's not happy about what she's done. Enter Thomas, the man who is trying to save the ship and bring back the dead Ian Yerxa, not just to prove Niko's guilt...but also to save Thomas's heart.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I have had part of this sitting on my computer for weeks and have been trying to extend it. I *WILL* finish this. I don't know how long it will take me, but, so help me, come hell or high water...it will be done. Thank you to Tumblr who inspired me to write it! (I actually started writing it before I saw this post, but this post made me include this particular scene: https://sterek.tumblr.com/post/186569545496/sterek-au-best-friends-since-childhood-derek-and )

Captain Niko Breckenridge was quiet, her hand gripping the edge of the back of the chair tightly, the other on her hip. She wouldn’t lock eyes with anyone around the table. The ship was slowly falling to pieces and they had already lost two of their engineers trying to figure out where the problem was. There was someone else in the somatic pods that she knew that she could pull out, but she had been told by Dubois that he was a _last_ resort…and Niko knew exactly why. Despite what Cas had told her about being in love with Ian, and that they’d been together, Niko knew it wasn’t true.

Sure, the crush might have been real, but Niko knew that Ian had never been with her for two reasons. One, because when she’d told Niko that her and Ian had been in Hawaii on a trip a few months earlier, Niko knew for a fact that Ian hadn’t been there with Cas; he’d been somewhere else.

And two…that somewhere else that he had been had been right in front of her with him. Getting married.

Just before Ian had left for the mission, he had gotten married. It had been in secret, but it had nothing to do with the fact that he was marrying a man and everything to do with _who_ he’d married. And that was the man that Niko was now considering pulling out of his somatic tube.

Ian had never even been told that he was on the ship. In fact, Dubois had told her that she was the only one who knew that he was on the Salvare. And yet _another_ hidden fact…Niko knew that the only reason why she had been given command of their mission had been because of the strings that Ian’s husband had pulled, unbeknownst to him, in order to try and keep him safe, to make sure that they would _both_ make it home, and not just one of them. Because Ian would sacrifice himself for his crew in an instant if it came down to a decision between his life and all of theirs. And his husband wouldn’t risk it.

The crew was tense, and finally Zayn was the first to speak up.

“Niko, it’s obvious that you have someone in mind, but that you don’t want to tell us,” ze said, and she reluctantly pulled her eyes up and looked Zayn in the eye. “Whoever it is, I am certain that we can all put aside whatever prejudices we have to work with them. Now. Who is it?”

Niko swallowed.

Finally, she said, “I am the only one who knows that he was even put onto the ship into one of the somatic pods. He’s absolutely brilliant and completely outstrips anyone on this ship in terms of intelligence _and_ in terms of rank. Trust me. However…” She paused. She couldn’t quite believe that she was about to tell them the truth. “However,” she pushed on, “He was only to be pulled out in an _absolute_ emergency. Considering that none of us can fix the ship, we are going to have to pull him out. I need you to understand that he is a _last_ resort…”

She paused again, unable to quite get it out, and then Sasha growled out, “Oh, for fuck’s sake, just tell us who it is, already!”

Niko glared at him…but relented.

“Thomas Graves.”

Everyone looked at her in shock. Everyone back on earth knew that name. He was the young, billionaire genius who had designed the ship and the FTL drive, himself. The kicker was, he was only twenty-eight years old. He’d kept his marriage out of the press for good reasons, the main one was that he didn’t want it to look like he’d be emotionally compromised at sending his husband into space.

But then he’d gone and secretly gotten himself assigned to the mission, in case anything else went wrong. Well, it had.

Cas was the first to explode.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” she yelled. “We had the motherfucking designer and creator of the goddamn ship and FTL on _board_, and we don’t bring him out until _now?_ Oh, you have got to be fucking _kidding_ me!” She turned and punched her fist against the bulkhead and Niko winced in sympathy, even as she yelled, “Fuck!” one last time.

Niko let out a slow breath and said, in an even and measured tone, “He is, legally, for all intents and purposes, still on earth. Originally, only myself, Dubois, and the President knew that he was on board the Salvare.”

Unexpectedly, August spoke up.

“Why wasn’t his husband told? Wouldn’t he realize that Graves was missing?”

Oh, curse her, Niko silently thought. She should have kept her damn mouth shut.

Everyone pivoted to look at August in shock, and Sasha asked, “Husband? Wait a second. As far I know, hell, as far as _any_one knows, Graves is a bachelor for life. Are you confused?” and she shook her head and said, “My dad’s best friend was the officiant of the wedding. He’s an ordained minister and was told to keep it quiet. I found out on accident, but he never told me who Mr. Graves married, just that it had to be kept quiet for safety reasons.”

Cas then asked, “Hold on, if he’s married and his husband didn’t know he came on board…but doesn’t know he’s missing back on earth…then that means that his husband is on board this ship.”

Niko swallowed. And then nodded.

“Yes.”

And she left it at that, letting them all assume that his husband was in one of the other unopened somatic tubes. It was safer that way. If they knew that Ian had been his husband, then there was no way that they would agree to let her bring him out of his sleep, only to have him be emotionally compromised at learning of his husband’s death…and that she was the cause of it.

Oliver looked up from where he sat at the far end of the table, tucked in on himself with his arms across his chest and said, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s pull the genius out of his tube and get our ship fixed.”

They all looked at Niko, and she reluctantly nodded.

They were doing this.

\--

Trying to make it less traumatic for him, she elected to be the only one to be there when he woke up. She _was_ the leader of the expedition, after all, and she needed to tell him immediately what had happened with his husband so that he could deal with his emotions privately before coming to join the rest of the crew.

She went to the one pod that had no name on it and pressed her palm to the screen.

The pod opened and slid out, and she looked down at high cheekbones, gelled and styled hair, along with pale skin speckled with moles. Thomas Graves.

She took a deep breath.

Quickly, she dialed in the access code, and the device that rested on either side of his neck turned off, and his eyes shot open as he gasped for air, but, unlike so many others, he adjusted much quicker, for as soon as the glass had slid back, he had his legs over the side and he was already steadying his breathing.

He shot her a wry grin and said, his voice slightly raspy from misuse, “Hey, Captain. I’m guessing everything’s gone to hell in a handbasket?”

She nodded. He gave a humorless laugh and then got to his feet, his fingers brushing the console, sealing it back behind him, the whole ship keyed to his presence. Niko watched as he stretched up, the dark gray shirt riding up his slim sides and his sweats shifting on his narrow hips, revealing a few more scattered moles as he did so. He reached up towards the ceiling and casually touched it, and then slowly bent back over until his hands were flat on the floor, and she had a sudden flash of memory of a magazine article on the yoga studio that he’d had installed in his multi-million dollar home.

He slowly came back up and said, “What do I need to fix and who do I need to kill?”

The last part was said jokingly, but she could only manage a half-smile at the remark. After the hell that they had already been through, and all the people that she’d never thought that they would lose, it just wasn’t as funny as it should have been.

“Mr. Graves,” she started, but he waved her off and corrected her with, “Thomas. God, I’ve always _hated_ being called Mr. Graves,” and she gave him a stiff nod.

“Thomas, then. Before I tell you what we need your help with, there is something you need to know.” He leaned back against the bulkhead, tucking his hands into his pockets, so she continued. “We have already had several casualties, so far. The first one was at my own hand,” Niko reluctantly admitted. “There was a mutiny right before we sling-shotted around the star. After I had regained control of the ship, he attempted to take my life and I took…drastic measures.”

Thomas shrugged and ran a hand through his hair as he said, “As far as I know, that’s self-defense, even under military law. No issues. We figured things like this would happen. I hope the body’s in one of the cryo chambers, as I requested for all such instances?”

Niko nodded again, and then licked her lips, gathering her courage.

“Thomas…the man who died first…I don’t know how to say this…was Ian.”

His hand stopped. His whole body became stiff…but then he stood up straight and said, “These things, happen, Breckinridge. This type of mission has never been attempted, which is why we sent so many in soma tubes along with the original crew. Redundancies save lives. You were just doing your job.”

And that was all he said, walking past her to the hallway, heading up to the mess, knowing exactly where everything was as he was the one who’d designed the damn ship in the first place.

She stared after him, completely baffled at his response, but then quickly caught up to him, matching his long stride. He didn’t seem to care that he was barefoot, acting as if the cold metal on his feet was nothing to him. As soon as they were in the mess, he gave each person a polite nod, and then walked over to the cupboards and pulled out a dehydrated bag of French fries.

He was taller than she remembered.

Everyone was silent as he rehydrated the fries and then took a bite.

He chewed for a few seconds, swallowed, and then said, “Well, the gravity and life-support systems both still seem to be online, which is kinda making me wonder why I was dragged out of some very pleasant dreams,” and he arched an eyebrow at the group, and Sasha appeared to be the only unaffected by his look.

August tentatively spoke up, “We’re having structural integrity issues and we can’t seem to find where it’s coming from. Despite our best efforts, we are unable to locate the source of the issue,” she finished, leaning a bit deeper into her chair, and he nodded.

“Yeah, that’s the kind of thing you’d need me for. I mean, you’re a superb engineer, August, one of the reasons why I approved you for this mission,” he said, and she looked up at him in surprise, obviously taken aback that he knew her name, but he kept on going, saying, “But for something like this you need someone who knows every single part of this ship, inside and out, and this is where I come in. Do you have the information on the ship’s computer?” Thomas asked, and she nodded, and he turned and faced the table and said, “William, put up the holographic interface, please,” and the AI appeared.

“Of course, sir,” he replied, and suddenly a digital grid materialized above the table, along with a perfect three-dimensional diagram of the ship suspended in the middle of it, all of it glowing a faint bluish white. Thomas leaned over the table and put a finger on the side of the grid and made it larger.

“Okay,” he said, sounding more competent than anyone Niko had ever met, besides maybe Yerxa. “Outside structural damage is here, here, and here,” he rotated it, “But nearly all of it is superficial. However,” he spun it quickly and then stopped it with a tap of his middle finger. “The problem is in between the hull and the inner shell. My guess, considering that you have some slight overheating here, here, here…and _here,_” he pointed again, each part lighting up as he touched it, “Is that one of the inner coils sprung and is causing coolant to leak into the space between the two hulls, which is making these other sections overheat…”

They all goggled at him, and August suddenly didn’t seem as timid as she rose from her chair and argued, “Those heat fluctuations are within normal range, I checked them three times, myself,” but Thomas shook his head at her.

“For any other ship, maybe, but not for the Salvare. I designed her special,” he said with a smirk, enlarging the section that he’d said been damaged. “See these pipes?”

Everyone nodded.

“These aren’t made from your usual materials. This is a custom alloy that I created just for this ship, and, despite the fact that they last nearly forever when taken care of properly, they have a very limited acceptable range of temperature in which they can exist without being compromised. Hence, the specialized cooling system that I designed. That heat change, as marginal as it may be to you, is enough to cause them to eventually corrode and fuse into the hull of the ship, rendering them completely useless and my ship nothing more than a hunk of floating metal in space.”

He pulled back away from the diagram and they all gave him a look of approval. He wasn’t just looks (though no one could ever think that Thomas Graves was anything but pretty), he was also brains. He lived up to his reputation and more.

“Well, how do you suggest we fix it?” Niko asked, feeling slightly defensive, crossing her arms across her chest.

He glanced over his shoulder at her and said, in that same insufferable tone, “Well, we need to get into the panels directly, so, as stupid as it sounds, we need a screwdriver and a prybar.”

He then pointed over the group and started separating them out, and telling them to put in their comms, while he took Michelle’s comm and tucked it into his ear.

“Oliver and Javier, I need you over in the aft section of _this_ grid,” he lit up a section on the digital ship in front of them, and they nodded. “Good,” Thomas said as they turned to leave. “Now, August, I need you back in the heart of engineering, _here,_” another section lit up, “In order for you to do your magic.”

She nodded and turned on her heel, quickly making her way there.

“Excellent.” He looked back up at everyone else. “Zayn, you’re with me, and Niko, you’re here in the mess with everyone else. Sorry,” he quickly apologized at seeing people looking disgruntled at not being asked to help, “But I need people that have the technical skills to think fast on their feet. Niko, you’re an amazing commander and one hell of a fighter, but you don’t have the tech skills that I need right now. However, you _do_ have a knack for keeping people calm when shit goes down, and I want you here in case worse comes to worse. Okay?”

Slightly pissed, but understanding why, she nodded.

“Fine.”

“Good. Zayn, grab your bag. I’m gonna need some on the fly information,” he said, already rushing towards the rooming section of the Salvare, and ze gave him a look, curious as to why ze’d been picked. Zayn was not a first choice for this kind of recovery, but Thomas had made his decision, so ze followed.

\--

Zayn couldn’t help but notice the way Thomas knew his way around the ship, moving so quickly that even ze had problems keeping up. However, they came to a sudden stop in front of a random section of wall and ze waited as he pressed against a thin band of metal on his wrist and it slid off to reveal that it was one of the high-tech slim-fit multi-tools that Graves had designed but not released to the public, yet, and Zayn couldn’t help but marvel.

As he put it into one of the panel screws on the wall and started turning it, ze asked, “What kind of information do you need from me?”

Without missing a beat, he said, “I need to know how the crew is doing after the death of their original commanding officer, Ian Yerxa,” and ze was taken off guard by the boldness of the question.

Slowly, Zayn replied, “To be honest, I think a lot of them doubt the circumstances under which Ian was killed. We trust in Niko, but…” Thomas arched an eyebrow, so ze continued. “But from what I knew of the man, he was not someone who would kill someone they considered to be a friend. It seems out of character for him.”

“But wasn’t there a mutiny right before you tried to slingshot around the star?” Ze didn’t know what to say, so Thomas kept on talking, and as he did, ze noticed that he kept on absently rubbing at the wedding band on his left hand, that looked to be a titanium-surgical steel blend with a black stone set in the middle. “And, in the end, I am guessing that Niko ended up not attempting the maneuver that was originally suggested by Yerxa in the first place. Am I right?”

Zayn nodded.

“Yes.”

Thomas nodded back at ze, and the panel in front of him popped off with a faint squeak of metal on metal. He handed ze the slim-held, and ze took it and watched as his fingers danced over the inner workings of the ship, seeing things that Zayn had no comprehension of. He reached in with one slender hand and did something that caused a light to switch from green to yellow and, whatever he’d done, he seemed to be pleased with the result.

“Okay, that’s the easy part. Now,” he said, reaching out his hand and ze automatically gave him back the tool and he put the panel back in place. “I’m going to take a quick look and see if I can re-route the power temporarily so we don’t all accidentally kill ourselves trying to save my girl, here,” and Zayn couldn’t help but smile.

“The ship’s a her?” ze asked, and Thomas nodded.

“Yeah, it’s a her,” he said fondly as he maneuvered the slim metal pieces back into an inconspicuous cuff that sat snugly on his wrist. “The only baby I’ll ever have. You know,” he added conversationally as they walked back down towards the mess, “the word _salvare_ is from the Italian, and it means to save. That’s what I designed her for: to save the world. I’m here to make sure it happens.”

Zayn nodded again, and then couldn’t help but ask, “Are you sure you can fix the problem?”

He smirked back at ze and said, “I better, or else we’re dead in the water. Besides, I know my ship.” He reached out and ran an affectionate hand along the wall as they walked and added, “I never thought that I would see her in real life. I mean, she was a pipe dream. She was something that I drew on paper napkins in crappy hotel bars, in the margins of old, peer-reviewed papers, and in the empty fronts of binders filled with notes for my next book…”

Ze gave him a half-smile and Thomas then said, his fingers lingering on the curved metal as his feet slowed to a stop, “Seeing her, here, in real life…it doesn’t feel quite real.”

Zayn nodded and ze said in return, “She is a beautiful design. Did you have something in mind when you made the Salvare?” and he smiled and nodded back at ze.

“Yeah. Some_one_, actually.” And then his smile went soft and his eyes went sad, his finger again rubbing over his ring…and then his voice went stiff and cool as he finished, “But that’s beside the point,” and he popped the slim-held back off his wrist and put the screwdriver to the wall. “Right now, I have to fix her. I don’t need to be thinking about anything else. This is more important.”

His demeanor was suddenly cut off, and Zayn didn’t know what to make of it, so ze said nothing, and instead did as Thomas asked ze to do as he continued to work on the ship. After a few minutes, he asked ze to press down a wire inside the wall, so ze did, and then Thomas did something with his own tools and there was a low hum, and then a very loud clang, and Thomas smiled and nodded, and then said, “Okay, good. The system is shut down. Now, I can actually _fix_ it.”

Zayn nodded and tentatively inquired as they moved further down the ship’s corridor, “Did you need me for anything else besides advice?”

Thomas nodded.

“Yeah. You’ve been trained medically, which means that you have surgeons’ hands. You know how to work with complicated mechanics and in small, tight spaces. I’m gonna need that skill set for what we’re about to do next, because it’s gonna take more than one pair of hands, and I want the best on the crew.”

He shot ze a confident smile and ze was taken aback at the sincerity in his voice. Zayn felt slightly off-balance at the compliment, but took it and then said, “Thank you, sir. I mean, Thomas,” ze quickly amended, seeing the slight furrow of his brow at ze addressing him as ‘sir’. “I’ve felt rather helpless in my position, to be honest, and it’s nice to feel…needed.”

Thomas smiled again and replied, “Everyone is, or _was_, on this ship for a reason.”

They stopped at another random spot on the corridor and he casually slipped off his slim-held and started to unscrew another panel.

Unable to help themself, Zayn asked, “Even Yerxa?”

His hands stilled and his jaw clenched, his eyes flitting to his wedding band, and then he said in a soft, low tone, “Especially Ian,” and then continued on with his work. Zayn didn’t ask any more questions regarding the man, and instead tried to pay attention to what Thomas was doing with his hands. He had long, slender fingers that seemed to know exactly where to go, and it was slightly impressive to see how well he knew the inner workings of his ship, if not a bit intimidating.

Zayn was used to working with experts, but this…ze could actually _see_ the man thinking and creating new solutions in his head and it was rather amazing.

After several long, tense-filled minutes, Thomas pulled his fingers out of the panel, and snapped the slim-held back onto his wrist and commented, “Well, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Now, lemme tell everyone what needs to be done.”

He tapped on the comm in his ear and quickly relayed a slew of information that Zayn could only pretend to understand, but everyone else seemed to know what it meant, because after a few minutes, lights started lighting up inside the exposed panel and Thomas smiled. Things were back into working order, apparently. Thomas did a couple of other things, tinkering in that way of his, and then said to Zayn, “I need your hands, now,” and ze stepped up to the wall.

“Okay, put your fingers here…and here,” he pointed, and ze did. “Now, I’m going to grab these pieces here,” he gestured with his chin and moved his hands into position, “and you’re going to turn those wires exactly twenty degrees to the right at the _exact_ same time I move my fingers. Can you do that?” Ze nodded. “Okay, then. On the count of three. One, two…three!”

They turned at the same time and Zayn heard a collective groan that seemed to come from the entire frame of the Salvare…but apparently that was a good thing, because Thomas grinned.

“Yes!”

Zayn pulled their hands away, as did Thomas, and watched as he put the panel back into place.

He then turned to ze and said, “And my girl is back up and running. Now, how about we go to the mess and get some more fries?”

Zayn smiled and nodded and followed him back to where Niko was standing there with a questioning look on her face, and Thomas quickly reassured her with, “Everything’s fixed. Your team is good and Zayn, here, was invaluable.” Niko seemed pleased at that, and then Thomas said, in an off-handed way, “By the way, you’re not putting me back into those pods. I’m stayin’ for the rest of the trip,” and he dug out another packet of dehydrated french fries, ignoring the glare the commander sent his way.

“How about we talk about that later,” Niko said diplomatically, but at that, Thomas’s eyes shot up and he glared at her.

He put down the packet.

“How about we settle this, now,” he snapped back at her, and everyone in the room, even Oliver, Javier, and August, who had all just walked back in, could hear the steel underlying his tone as he squared up to their commander, a good head taller than her, almost as tall as Ian had been. “Fact number one, this is my ship. I designed her, I created her, I was the one who brought her to life, and if _any_one deserves to be here, it’s me. Now, _you_, on the other hand,” he added, pointing at her, “You were only brought on as commander because I told Dubois that I wouldn’t let Ian lead the mission alone. I thought that you were going to _protect_ him because you were the one that _taught_ him, but instead, you _killed_ him.”

He didn’t sound emotional to anyone else, just cold and calculating, but to Zayn, ze knew exactly what was going on.

Ian had been his husband.

It explained everything. It explained why he kept on referring to him by his first name, why he’d asked about his death, why he’d gone quiet when he had said that Ian had been ‘especially’ important to the mission. How every single time that Ian had been brought up in conversation, he had looked at or touched his wedding band…oh, god. How horrible it must have been for him to wake up and find that his husband had died. And not just died…but murdered at the hands of a superior officer. Someone he’d trusted.

“Now,” he continued, “I am going to review the footage of the incident, so that I know what to report when we get back.”

At this, everyone looked up in surprise, and Thomas smirked.

“What footage?” asked Sasha, and Graves replied with an eyeroll, “You honestly think that I would put fifty strangers onto my ship and not keep track of their every move? That I would just let them roam about and, if anything happened, take them on their word? Yeah, no. This entire ship has a hidden surveillance system that only _I _have access to. So. I am going to watch it and find out _exactly_ what happened.”

Niko suddenly looked nervous and swallowed.

Thomas gave her one last look…and then stalked out of the room, leaving behind the bag of still dehydrated french fries on the table.

Everyone exchanged uneasy glances, none of them looking at their commander, and then Niko finally said, “I’ll go talk to him,” to which Zayn said, “Do you really think that’s a good idea? I mean, you killed his husband, after all,” and then _every_one’s eyes snapped up.

August was the first to say, in a soft whisper, “Wait…he was married to Yerxa? But, but…he was single!”

Cas looked the most shell-shocked, and Zayn knew why. The woman had been harboring a crush on him ever since they’d first been assigned as his team. Yes, Zayn probably should not have said anything, but ze knew that it needed to be said. They needed to know.

“No. He wasn’t.”

Niko.

They all looked to her, and she let out a long sigh and sunk down on the edge of the table and confessed, “I knew about him being married. In fact, I was one of the witnesses.” The silence was still uneasy, so she continued. “Besides Dubois, I was only one who knew about the two of them. It was kept out of the public eye so that it didn’t look like Ian was getting preferential treatment, which he _wasn’t_,” she stressed, looking up at all of them. “Ian was the _best_ choice for the job, and it didn’t matter whether or not he was married to Graves, he would have gotten the job. But…”

She let it dangle and Michelle, out of all people, called her out on it.

“But it was because of the fact that Ian was _married_ to Graves, that _you_ were put on the trip, wasn’t it?” Niko didn’t even try to argue, and Michelle snorted and looked pissed off as she said, “Oh, you’ve gotta be fucking kidding me! Graves must have insisted that Dubois put you onto the fucking mission because he was trying to protect his fucking husband from getting fucking _killed_, wasn’t he?”

Niko said nothing…but then she nodded, and Michelle threw back her head and laughed, while everyone else just looked uncomfortable, Cas hugging her arms to her chest in the corner.

“Oh, no wonder he was so fucking pissed at you!” she said, standing up and kicking her chair behind her, causing it to clang loudly against the table.

“You don’t understand--”

“No!” Michelle cut her off, stabbing a finger at her, while everyone looked on, no one else really wanting to stop her as she was only saying what they were all thinking at that point. “The motherfucking irony of this whole situation is that you killed Graves’ husband when you were supposed to be the one who looked after him, am I right?!” Niko said nothing, but looked down at the floor, not meeting the communication specialist’s eyes, who was finally living up to her title.

“That’s what he meant when he said you were supposed to protect him. God, Niko…you’re a fucking hypocrite. Tell me, since you knew that Graves was on board, what was your plan if we’d never woken him up, huh?” she goaded, stepping even closer into her personal space. “We get back to earth and then you lie to him and say his husband died saving the world, when, for all we know, all he did was piss you off, so you killed him? We _still_ don’t fucking know what the fuck happened in that room! I’m fucking _glad_ that Graves has secret cameras! Maybe now we’ll actually find out what the fuck actually happened in there…”

She stormed out and no one went after her. Zayn wanted to follow her, though. She had been right with every word.

Niko cautiously looked up at everyone, obviously trying to gauge their reactions, and then Oliver said, “She’s right,” and walked out of the room, Javier following him, hesitating for a moment in the doorway, looking back in August’s direction…and then he, too, disappeared around the corner, their’ footsteps echoing behind them.

It was only Sasha, Cas, August, Zayn, Bernie, and Niko.

Bernie had been quiet the entire time, in the opposite corner, but he now spoke up.

“Commander,” he said softly, and she looked in his direction. “You did it to save the ship. You had to.” She nodded. “But we’re still grieving,” he added unexpectedly, “And you need to understand that we still cared for him not just as a commander, but as our friend,” and then both he and August left, leaving the other three with Niko.

Zayn glanced at the two of them. Sasha didn’t really seem to care, still eating out of a bag of chips, one of the few things that didn’t have to be dehydrated, but Cas looked like she was barely holding it together.

Cas broke first.

“I…I found something in Ian’s supplies that I thought was for me,” she admitted, reaching up and brushing away tears that were trying to fall, “But I guess it wasn’t. I’ll just go…go and get it for Graves. He deserves to have a proper goodbye.”

And then she was gone, too.

Niko looked at Zayn and Sasha and asked, her tone crisp, “Either of you have anything you want to say to me?”

Sasha just shrugged and answered, “Not really. I didn’t know Ian, so I don’t feel like I really have an opinion on his death, whether it was self-defense or not,” and Niko glared at him, but he ignored her and added, “I am here to make sure that we maintain appearances and get this mission done right. Personally, I like Graves. I say we keep him on.”

Niko now focused entirely on Zayn.

“And you?”

Ze levelled eyes with her.

“I think I said my peace earlier, commander.”

\--


	2. Chapter 2

Thomas was glad to be alone as he pulled out the recorder from the hidden panel. When Breckenridge had told him about Ian…god, his first instinct had been to reach out and strangle her, but he knew that the ship had to come first. He focused on the keypad in front of him and tapped in the nine-digit code that let him view the footage.

He didn’t know when or where it had happened, so he was left to his own devices to figure it out.

Thomas let out a huff off air.

Okay, so…first one to die. That meant skip through the footage until Ian came onto screen…and then watch what he did. Thomas knew his husband and knew that he wouldn’t have done such a thing, not without some sort of outside influence. Niko’s story made no sense to him. Mutiny? What for? Why would Ian have felt that was the only way to fix things, let alone murder Niko? Something didn’t add up.

He skimmed through it, unable to keep himself from pausing the video just so he could look at him.

Ian had dropped some weight for the mission, and from what he could see it looked like Ian hadn’t been sleeping, either. His face was thinner than it should have been, and his eyes looked tired and unfocused. Thomas absently ran a thumb over the screen, tracing the outline of his face, and then pressed play again, watching carefully to see if there was anything that had triggered the sudden change, because he knew Ian well, and knew that he would never kill anyone.

And then…there. There it was. Something was happening. He watched the footage carefully, rubbed at his eyes, trying not to miss a second of it.

Ian seemed agitated, more so than usual, he paced and argued with Niko on the bridge, and it was obvious that Niko was holding back from making a decision because she didn’t want to take a risk with the crew, something that Thomas knew _Ian_ knew was almost inevitable.

He paid close attention to what happened next.

Niko overruled him and forced the ship to back off from its previous position, and William complied to her wishes.

Thomas inwardly seethed as he jumped forward in the footage, knowing full well his ship’s capabilities and that Niko was being far too cautious in her approach, and that Ian’s had been the right one. Some might have seen it as bias, but there was a reason why Thomas had fallen in love with the man: he was brilliant and knew exactly when risks had to be taken, no matter the issues, and even if they hadn’t been together, he would have gotten the same role that he had. He was just that good.

He moved forward in the footage, saw Ian take command of the ship, and put Niko back in her somatic tube, and then…hold up. What was that?

It was footage from another part of the ship. August and Javier were doing something to the FTL drive that made no sense. He went backwards in time and saw that their last interaction with anyone on board the Salvare before entering the that part of the ship, they had been talking with Niko.

He turned on the sound recording for that particular expanse of hallway…

_“…Just do it,” Niko said, her voice low and guarded._

_August looked nervous, licking her lips and glancing over her shoulder, and then she replied, “Yes, commander,” and Javier nodded, and they both disappeared down the corridor and then appeared in the room with the FTL drive._

They were tampering with it.

Thomas skipped back forward to see Ian try and use the maneuver to get them around the star, and then he saw the inevitable breakdown of trust in command as the ship started to shake and break apart under the strain of being so close to the star all because the FTL drive didn’t kick in…

…because it had been fucking _sabotaged._

Thomas seethed, but then controlled it and skipped ahead, trying to swallow down the bile that rose in the back of his throat at seeing Niko back on the bridge, retaking command, all because she had set the whole thing up to _fail_ for Ian, just so that they would have trust in her, yet again.

She made him sick.

He kept watching carefully, because only certain cameras had sound, but he was lucky that he’d placed them the way that he had, because he then found the footage of Niko and Ian in the engine room, trying to fix part of the ship that had taken a bad hit in the previous maneuver.

Through some of the static, he heard, _“You know, we could be out here for years, Niko, so if you’re the type to hold a grudge…”_

_“You mutinied, Ian. You fuckin’ mutinied,” she hissed, and then Niko turned and walked back toward the other side just as Ian said, “You think I wanted any of that to happen? For it to go that way?” As he said it, he walked forward past the electric cloud, “Everything I did, I did because I put the mission first--”_

_“Oh, you can’t honestly believe that,” she said, whirling back around. “God, Ian, you put your _ego _first!”_

_“Oh, like you’ve never put _any_thing else ahead of the mission? Or anyone?”_

_“Hey, I am out here lightyears away from my daughter to protect her—”_

_“Exactly! To protect _her_! Not the rest of us,” he said loudly, gesturing widely, “Her.” She turned her head, and he continued. “Be honest, if it ever comes down to a choice between this _crew _and Janna…who are you gonna choose?” _

God, Thomas was proud of him in that moment.

_Niko shook her head._

_“That’s ridiculous,” she replied, _and Thomas could feel the same rage building up in him as he could see building up in Ian’s expression as he shook his head at her.

_“There’s my answer,” _Thomas faintly heard through the staticky feed_. “But _I’m _the dangerous one, right?” he added, and Niko coldly dismissed him with, “Get back to work, Ian,” _and Thomas again noted where his husband stood, right next to the electric field. Something sparked out for a second, and it almost looked as if it had touched Ian’s shoulder. Huh. Now _that_ was interesting, he thought to himself and paid close attention to the screen.

Ian walked back to his workstation on the far side of the room and then picked up a serrated edge. It was the right size for what Niko was working on, Thomas noted.

_“You know, Niko, were the situation were reversed,” he said, “I’m not sure I would be quite as…magnanimous with you…” _

_Niko looked up, her back still to him, and said, questioningly, “No?”_

_“No.”_

Thomas watched as Ian walked back across the room, screwdriver in hand, approaching Niko from behind, again walking right past the uncontained electric field, and another small spark leapt out and lightly landed on his upper arm and skittered down it, almost as if it was alive, and then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Just as he reached her, Niko turned around, saw where Ian was stopped, not moving towards her, the sharp edge in Ian’s hand…and then suddenly drop-kicked him straight into the energy field, completely unprovoked.

Thomas seethed at seeing his husband practically fried to a crisp and several tears escaped the corners of his eyes. Ian hadn’t done a _thing_, and she had just attacked him and _killed him._ No wonder she had seemed upset when he’d said that he had video cameras hidden on the ship. This was proof that she had sabotaged the ship and then murdered him. Ian hadn’t lunged at her; he hadn’t moved towards her at all when she had turned…but she had attacked him under the pure assumption that he was going to. Thomas saved the sections of video that were necessary, and then closed everything else and tucked the tablet under his arm.

He wiped at his eyes, trying to hide the emotions. They needed to see him as a proper leader, not one clouded by emotion. He was about to relieve Niko of duty and eventually put her back into soma sleep. it wasn’t going to be easy to convince them.

He turned to head back down the hallway, when Cas approached him.

“Graves,” she said, offering forward her right hand, and Thomas saw the small flash drive in her fingers. “This is for you. I thought…I thought that he and I…well, it’s not important,” she stumbled over her words, “What’s important is that this is for you. Here.”

He took it from her, and she quickly turned and walked back down the hallway she’d just come from. He looked down at the flash drive and already had a feeling that he knew what it was: a last message. He could watch it…or he could do what he had been planning on doing all along and bring his husband back; the tech existed in the med-bay, though no one knew about it. There were secrets about his ship that _no one_ but himself knew, and Thomas knew that it would work to his advantage.

Or he could watch it and _also_ bring his husband back.

Mind made up, he wandered down towards the sleeping quarters and took the largest bunk room, punching in his high clearance security code into the door lock. As soon as it vacuum-sealed behind him, he threw himself onto the small bunk and put the flash drive into the tablet.

He mentally steeled himself as the video pulled up.

…and there was his husband’s face. Beautiful, handsome, and adorable, all at once. He paused it for a second, just staring, recognizing his horse ranch in the background of the video, and then pressed play.

_“So, I guess if you’re watching this, things have gone south. South as in you’re safe on Earth and I’m dead…”_ God, that hit him in the gut. He was going to be pissed when he brought him back, to realize that he hadn’t stayed behind. He kept watching. _“Or maybe not. Maybe the mission is over and I’m back on Earth, and we’re watching this together and laughing at what a baby-faced dork I was when I recorded this.” _Thomas swallowed, trying to deal with the surge of emotion that swelled in the back of his throat. _“Yeah, I’m gonna go with that. That we’re…together. But if we’re not…I just want you to know that I love you, babe.” _A tear escaped. _“And, uh… I would cross the universe for you. I never told you that before, but I didn’t want to die without making sure you knew…”_

Okay, now it was even worse. He shouldn’t have watched it.

He threw the tablet to the side and brought his hands up to his face, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to stop the rest of the tears that were trying to escape, because he knew that if he really started crying, he wouldn’t be able to stop, and that was stupid, since he knew that he could bring him back. Well, in theory, at least.

Thomas laid there on the cot for a long time. It wasn’t until his comm pinged that he was even aware that time had really been passing.

_“Thomas, I need you in the mess,”_ said Niko, and he let out a groan.

Shit. This was _not_ going to be easy. _But_, he thought to himself, grabbing a pair of shoes that adjusted to his feet as he slid them on, _it might be easy for everyone else._ From what he’d observed, no one particularly cared for her or even seemed to trust her, Sasha possibly being an exception. That was something that Thomas prided himself on. He could read people. He’d always been able to, which was why he’d fallen in love with Ian in the first place; the man had been an open book.

_Still is_, he silently reminded himself as he tucked the flash drive into his pocket and headed to the bridge.

The instant he walked into the room, he noticed that Niko wasn’t alone: she had every single one of the crew there to back her up. A few of them looked agitated, and couldn’t look him in the eye, acting as if they really didn’t want to be there, and he couldn’t blame them. But it was just as well because he needed witnesses to what was about to happen.

He already knew what she was going to say before Niko even opened her mouth, so he beat her to it.

“Lemme guess…you’re all here to tell me that you’re thankful for my help, but you need to put me back where I came from or so help me?” None of them seemed to get the reference, so he rolled his eyes and said, “I think it’s adorable that you think you have any power or rank over me, Niko, so, before you say anything more, can I just say one thing?”

She nodded.

“Fine. Say whatever you want, but it’s not going to change what’s about to happen,” and he just glared…

…And then a slow grin crossed his lips as he stood stock straight, hands clasped behind his back, knowing full well that he had the support of several of the crew, and said, “Niko Breckenridge. I, Thomas Graves, with the confirmed authority of the President of the United States and Commander Dubois, find you guilty of sabotage in the first degree and murder in the second degree and relieve you of command of the Salvare,” and she looked at him in shock, as did most everyone else, but he continued. “I have evidence that shows that you planned the failure of the FTL drive and then later murdered Ian Yerxa in cold blood with no provocation.”

All but Javier and August looked at him in surprise, while the young engineers kept their gazes trained on the floor at hearing the word sabotage.

“Sabotage?” Sasha asked first. “How the hell did she--?”

“I have footage that confirms that she spoke to Javier and August just before her vote of no confidence, and during the time of her placement into the somatic tube, Javier and August were adjusting the components on the FTL drive so that it wouldn’t respond, making it unusable to any commands that might be sent from the bridge of the ship. Such as Ian’s.”

Everyone looked towards the two engineers, who still stared at the floor, and then Michelle hissed out, “Are you shitting me? This…goddammit, this mission has been a fucking mess!”

And Thomas nodded.

“Yes. Yes, it has. Now, if I can redirect your gaze to the screen,” he added, walking over to the wall and plugging in the flash drive into the side of the monitor, “You can see the evidence of which I am speaking and fully understand what has happened.” The screen flipped over to the footage that he’d already queued up, and he stepped back to let them see what he’d seen not so long before. “Please note the time stamp on this footage,” he remarked.

Everyone’s eyes flicked up to the numbers and then back down to the screen.

They all then turned their glares onto Niko, Javier, and August, Cas looking especially distraught. They then looked back at the screen and watched as Niko told them to disable the FTL drive and Cas seemed the most taken aback by their actions, staring at the screen as if she’d never seen something so horrible.

In a low, shaky tone, Cas asked, “Niko…why? Why would you ask them to…?”

Thomas could see Niko’s hackles rise, and he heard the defensiveness in her tone as she said, “I _had_ to. Ian was going to put this entire mission in jeopardy for the sake of being _right_,” she added, actually sounding genuinely distraught. “This ship would have been _destroyed_ and we would _all_ be dead…Ian dying, that…that wasn’t on purpose, I swear! It was an accident--”

“Doesn’t look like one to me,” Thomas said, his voice steeled, speeding up the footage to show the two of them in the engine room.

The kick to his Ian’s chest looked even worse than it had before, and he pulled his eyes away, hearing several gasps of shock at seeing the footage.

He looked back up just in time to see Cas lunge at Niko, and he quickly stepped in and had Cas flat on her back on the ground, pinned in a solid hold. Again, more shocked stares, but he didn’t care. As he held her down, he looked back up at Niko and then said, talking to Cas, “We need her alive, Cas. She needs to answer for her crimes,” and then slowly let her back up as soon as she stopped straining and struggling against his firm grip.

Niko backed up until she was flush against the wall and stammered out, “Thomas, I…I know you loved him, and I’m sorry this happened, but I _swear_ I never meant to--”

“To what?” he said, standing back up and walking towards her. “Kill him? Oh, no, I don’t think you ever planned to kill him. On that, I believe you. But hurt him? Yes. That you _did_ plan.”

He slammed his hands down on the wall on either side of her head, the sound ringing through the small space, sounding especially loud with everyone else quiet.

He then leaned into her and breathed out in barely contained fury, “You thought he was a risk-taker, that he would get everyone _killed_, and so you took it upon yourself to fix the situation.” Thomas glared, licked his lips, swallowed. “By the way, his plan would have worked out just fine. The Salvare was designed to take that sort of beating and survive, which is something that _he_ knew because he’s the one who was by my side while I designed this ship…_not_ you.”

She didn’t try to escape, and he hovered over her, ignoring the sounds of everyone shuffling awkwardly behind him. He didn’t give a shit what they thought. He knew that they were aware that Ian had been his husband…_Still is_, he reminded himself, remembering his plan, and that they were uncertain if they should approach him or not.

Finally, after several long, charged moments, he pulled back.

“Niko Breckinridge,” he repeated, standing once more ramrod straight, with his hands clasped firmly behind his back, “I, Thomas Graves, with the confirmed authority of the President of the United States and Commander Dubois, find you guilty of sabotage in the first degree and murder in the second degree and relieve you of command of the Salvare.”

This time there were no looks of shock, no stammered-out words of denial. Instead she nodded and let herself be escorted by himself, Oliver, and Javier, back to her room, where he then re-coded the door so that he was the only one with access. It would have to do until the somatic tubes were repaired.

He walked back with them to find everyone still in the mess, the frozen image of his husband’s burned body still up on the screen.

Thomas quickly removed the flash drive and handed it to Michelle and said, “Please get the comms back up and running and send this to command as soon as possible,” and she nodded and disappeared down the hall. Out of all of them, she was actually the one he trusted most, oddly enough. She followed smart leadership, and Thomas knew that he was currently the smartest one on the Salvare. And he knew that she knew it, too, so he would have no problems with her.

After she left, he moved and sat down on the edge of the table and looked over the group.

“I, Thomas Graves, do hereby take control of this vessel, as Commander Niko Breckinridge has been found mentally unstable to continue leading. Do I have a second?”

Slowly, Zayn’s hand came up and he nodded in their direction. After a few more seconds, everyone else’s hands raised, including August’s and Javier’s. He arched an eyebrow at the two of them, knowing that they were confused why he hadn’t punished them, and then finally broke the silence.

“Thank you. Now, August, Javier…” They both looked up at him. “You were following orders. I don’t hold you accountable for Niko’s decision. You didn’t know what she had planned, so you are absolved of any perceived crimes. When we get back, both of you will have clean records,” and they both looked relieved, but also ashamed. Thomas knew that his words wouldn’t be enough to assuage the guilt they felt, but at least it was a start in the right direction.

He looked over everyone else.

“This mission…has been a shitstorm,” he said and there was a snort from Sasha. “Yes, we shouldn’t have lost Ian…and I don’t think we actually have,” he added, and both Bernie and Zayn looked at him as if he was crazy, so Thomas quickly explained.

“His body was immediately put into cryo, as I requested for any possible casualties of this mission. Because of that, I can use an advanced medical system to bring him back. This system,” he quickly said, noting both Zayn and Bernie’s expressions, “Is in a special unit of the medical bay, and I will put it into place. After I do, I will need help with the rest.”

He gave the two of them a softly questioning look…and then they both nodded.

“Okay. Good.”

He then looked over everyone else. Bernie seemed the most upset by the turn of events, Sasha the least affected. Oliver…he seemed to be somewhere in between. Not everyone was going to have the easiest time, so Thomas decided to make it simpler for them.

Breathing out a deep sigh, he said, “Keep on repairing the ship. I will come and help each of you as I am able, and feel free to ask me any questions.” He saw their looks of skepticism and reassured them, “Nothing is off limits. I have commanded before, believe it or not, and I know what is expected of me. Most of what I learned about command, I learned from my husband, so feel free to be as casual with me as you were with him. As soon as he’s back on his feet, he will be my second in command. For now,” he added, preparing himself for blowback for what he was about to say, “I will be keeping Michelle as second in command.”

Cas immediately protested.

“With all due respect, sir, she is not qualified for that position!” she said, rising up from the chair that she’d fallen into. “She is--”

Thomas cut her off.

“She is _perfectly_ qualified for the position, as are _all_ of you,” he added pointedly. “Every single person selected for this mission was vetted and made sure that they could all take a leadership position if the need arose. As it is, I am intimately familiar with every single profile of every person aboard this ship. She is the one that is going to get the job done.”

His tone was final, and Cas seemed to pick up on it. Good. He didn’t need another mutiny to happen. He glanced at everyone still in the room and added softly, “Look, I know. Everything is not how it’s supposed to be, but I’d like to get to the medbay and do what needs to be done. The longer we wait, the less chance we have at it working.” He looked over at Zayn and asked, “Is it okay if we get started?” and ze nodded.

He got down off the edge of the table and headed towards the medical bay, Zayn following close behind, and didn’t look back.

They didn’t need him hovering, they needed him doing his job.

And, right now, he needed to get Ian back.

As soon as he and Zayn were in the med lab, he reached over to a part of the wall and pressed his finger along a hidden panel. A whole section of wall slid into the space and without even looking back, he knew that Zayn was staring.

“There’s a lot about this ship that no one but myself knows about,” he softly explained as he pulled out the necessary vials and correct needle gauges, laying them out on the tray just to the left of the metal table in the center of the medical bay. “This technology has only recently been developed, and this is only the second time that it will ever be used.”

Thomas then looked at Zayn, trying to gauge their reaction, and Zayn asked, “When was the first?”

“About two weeks before the mission. On a man who had died seventy-two hours earlier.” He paused. “It’s only been two days since Ian passed. We can still bring him back…” The last part of this was said more to himself, and not really towards Zayn. He then added, “I’m not bringing him back just for me, you know,” feeling the need to defend himself, knowing how it looked to Zayn and the rest of the crew. “He was assigned to this mission for a reason and we need his experience and his mind if we want it to be successful.”

Zayn nodded.

“What drugs do you need?” ze asked, and Thomas gave Zayn a list and they went and picked them out from the cabinet, never wavering. They trusted him. Good. Thomas needed that trust. He hoped that he’d get from the rest of crew.

Eventually.

They quickly had everything set up and now it was time to pull Ian out of cryo.

Thomas knew that he _should_ be the one to do that part, but one look at Zayn and they knew that Zayn would do it for him.

Thomas had known Ian ever since they were in middle school together. He had seen him with a broken collarbone from jumping off the edge of the porch roof, trying to keep from being found out by their parents back in seventh grade; he had seen him with road burn from the time he’d wiped out on his motorcycle in junior year, skin scraped off and white gauze having to be changed every few hours to keep it from becoming infected. He’d seen him throwing up at four in the morning in their dorm room bathroom with the stomach flu, while he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to help him feel better.

But he still couldn’t look at him dead, fried from the waist up. That could be healed, too, but only after they brought him back…and it would take time.

Zayn pulled him out of the freezer unit, and Thomas moved as quickly as he could, putting in the drugs and then pressing buttons on the device that hovered over him on the metal table.

Zayn watched curiously and gave him help as he asked for it, never hesitating, and as they worked, Thomas became dimly aware of the fact that Bernie was hovering on the other side of the glass, watching them work on Ian. He didn’t have time to deal with Bernie, so he simply kept on working.

The machine started to hum after all the needles were in place, so Thomas stepped back.

At this point, all they could do was wait. He pulled up a chair and made himself as uncomfortable as possible so that he didn’t fall asleep. He should have already taken a nap by now, due to all the physical strain he’d been putting on himself right after getting out of soma sleep, but he knew that he couldn’t fall asleep at any point during the process. He was the only one who knew what to do if something went wrong. Not that anything would go wrong, of course.

He focused his eyes on Ian’s chest, waiting for the first sign of breath.

He didn’t care how long it would take.


End file.
